The Professional Chef continues to change the world of cooking.

The world was changing in 1962. John Glenn became the man to orbit the Earth and return home safely. The Beatles released their first single, “Love Me Do.” And The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) forever changed the culinary world with the publication of The Professional Chef®.

There had never been anything like it before. The Professional Chef was the first book dedicated to advancing the culinary profession. The 323-page text began by explaining that “knowing how to cook is only one part of the background a chef needs.” Chefs also needed to understand personnel, purchasing, nutrition, menu planning and kitchen layout. It was a guide for men—and it was almost exclusively men back then—who wanted to make a career of cooking: “Today’s chef is a business man … His knowledge and ability do not come overnight.”

Much more than a cookbook, its recipes and techniques were accompanied by sections about hygiene and sanitation, kitchen safety, tools and equipment, food cost, recipe conversions and even how to set up a buffet table. Recipes included Baked Hamburger Loaf, Chicken Cacciatore, Lobster Newburgh and molded salads—illustrated by stereotypical food photos of that era.

Moti Mahal Delux, a legendary high-end restaurant chain that is responsible for the invention of tandoori chicken, operates more than 100 locations throughout India, Nepal and London. This year, chef Gaurav Anand, a native of Punjab, India, has opened the restaurant’s first U.S. location, bringing the flavorful cuisine of the Mughal Empire to Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

By Lynn Schwartz

Gaurav Anand is no stranger to Mughlai food nor to Moti Mahal Delux. “I have been eating this food since my childhood,” he says. “There is nothing canned or frozen. It’s fresh, well-balanced and layered with spices.” Mughlai cuisine, known for its artful blending of spices, magical flavors, aromas and textures, dates back to the Imperial Kitchens of the Mughal Empire, when royal chefs composed the rich and exotic cooking style for Mughlai kings.

Good practices of social-media conversation honor five key principles just as they do within teams and in kitchens.

By Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT

Last month, we talked about using social media in our classrooms; this month, we will start a conversation on social-media etiquette for students, something that many of us are concerned about, but not sure how to tackle.

Although some of us have talked to our students about being careful what they post on Facebook because it can make a difference to employers and potential internship and externship sites, some of our students have not heeded that advice. It might help to share with them the 2009 study conducted by Harris Interactive for CareerBuilder.com, which found that 45% of employers used Google and other social networks to check on the backgrounds of potential hires. And that number is increasing. While we should keep delivering that message, there are many other aspects to social-media etiquette and to communicating clearly and carefully. Given the importance of learning how to use social media thoughtfully, here are a few pointers to share with students.

Easy, free and completely impartial, an assignment board guarantees that everyone shares equally in the assignments over a few days. Say these educators, the system is beautiful in its simplicity.

By Windi Hughes and Chef Adam Weiner

One of the toughest set of problems facing all levels of culinary instructors is how to make sure that no one in a group takes over, no one is always stuck doing the dishes, and no one just sits back and watches everyone do the work. One of the toughest things for a high-school teacher to explain to parents is why their daughter or son comes home every day and says that they did nothing in cooking class.

An easy, free and completely impartial way to handle these problems is to set up an assignment board, which guarantees that everyone shares equally in the assignments over a few days.

Produced for only $0.88 a gallon to operate the college’s vehicles, the savings from converting cooking oil to fuel rather than purchasing regular diesel is huge.

The delicious smell of hot, freshly made doughnuts and French fries is wafting through the air at The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in Napa Valley, and it has nothing to do with the creations from the college’s culinary students. It’s the smell of cooking oil turned into biodiesel fuel being used in campus vehicles.

The biodiesel fuel is created on campus from used cooking oil gathered from the fryers in the college’s teaching kitchen and Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant. About 50 gallons of cooking oil is transformed into 45 gallons of fuel by putting the oil into the CIA’s biodiesel distiller. This machine removes the fatty acids from the oil and cleans out impurities. The oil is then heated to a high temperature to remove any remaining water in the mixture.

The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) is launching a new major in Culinary Science beginning in February 2013—one of a series of new academic programs in bachelor’s-degree studies at the college. The programs will advance the culinary profession and position CIA graduates for career success in the dynamically evolving foodservice industry.

“This innovative program will further prepare CIA students to shape the future of cooking and the foodservice industry,” said Dr. Tim Ryan, CMC, president of the CIA. “And more specialized studies are in development. We are expanding the scope, depth, and diversity of our students’ knowledge base, so that their leadership as graduates will extend in all sectors of food and hospitality.”

The Culinary Science degree will be taught at the CIA’s Hyde Park, N.Y., campus. The curriculum will include such advanced techniques as precision temperature cooking and other advanced culinary techniques made possible through emerging technologies and scientific discovery. Students will learn directly from leaders in the culinary-science field about the scientific method and the use of modern techniques and equipment. They will discover new ingredients; experience product development, including sensory and flavor evaluations; and gain critical-thinking skills and science-based knowledge that will help them become industry innovators.

The mouthwatering handiwork of Florence-based University of North Alabama culinary students Vanessa Gerig and Eero Wilson will be seen on the big screen in the upcoming film, “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.”

Gerig, a senior from Towanda, Ill., and Wilson, a senior from Longview, Texas, assisted food stylist and 1978 UNA alumnus Jack White, who has created on-camera food for more than 75 major motion pictures and television shows since 1992.

The students arrived in Atlanta Sept. 23 and got right to work on set early the next day. They worked throughout the week preparing extravagant gourmet dishes like Cornish hens, roasted ducks, suckling pigs, vegetables and cakes to cover nearly 100 feet of a banquet table, they said.

Grand Valley State University Executive Chef Paul Mixa said cooking for Olympic athletes in London was the experience of a lifetime.

Mixa, a Chicago native who joined Grand Valley based in Allendale, Mich., in 2004, was part of a team of international chefs selected to prepare dishes for athletes who competed in the Olympics from August through September.

“It really was a great experience,” said Mixa. “I think the most amazing thing about it was that all these different chefs and people who never worked together came together to pull off a huge event. We were feeding 18,000 people a day.”

Chef Jacquy Pfeiffer, cofounder of The French Pastry School of Kennedy-King College at City Colleges of Chicago, has been named many things in his exceptional career in pastry: Pastry Chef of the Year at the 2004 World Pastry Forum; Celebrity Pastry Chef of the Year at the 2005 Jean Banchet Awards; and a Kings of Pastry in the 2009 documentary, “Kings of Pastry,” to name a few.

In recognition of his achievements, the Chicago Culinary Museum inducted Pfeiffer into the Chefs Hall of Fame at its Seventh Annual Fundraising Dinner and Awards Presentation. Pfeiffer is the first pastry chef to be inducted into the Chefs Hall of Fame, joining ranks with Charlie Trotter, Rick Bayless, Carrie Nahabedian, Priscila Satkoff, Art Smith, Jimmy Banos and his fellow 2012 inductee, Graham Elliot. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel provided the metaphorical icing on the cake by proclaiming September 20, 2012, to be Chef Jacquy Pfeiffer Day in the City of Chicago, in commemoration of one of the chefs who is turning the town into an international hub for pastry arts.

New England Culinary Institute announced Sept. 10 the hiring of celebrity chef Jean-Louis Gerin as its new campus executive chef.

Fresh off his win as Food Network’s 2012 “Chopped” champion, the appointment of Gerin is a huge coup for New England Culinary Institute, Montpelier and the State of Vermont. He comes to NECI from Greenwich, Conn., where he and his wife, Linda, have enjoyed a successful 28 years with their own Restaurant JEAN-LOUIS. Since opening in 1985, Restaurant JEAN-LOUIS has earned a reputation as perhaps the finest restaurant in Connecticut, and one of the best in the United States. It has been recognized by Wine Spectator for more than 20 years for its excellent wine list and as one of the “most romantic restaurants for wine lovers in the country” for five years running. The restaurant has consistently earned top ratings by Zagat, and has received Zagat’s “Best in Value” accreditation for the past three years.